Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter

Anything Goes has been through a lot of changes. It started out as Hard to Get, a musical about a shipwreck. Then, there was an actual shipwreck. It was re-written onto a ship that stays afloat. It became Bon Voyage. Then, actor William Gaxton used a phrase that Cole Porter overheard. He wrote a song and the show became Anything Goes.

The show was quite successful. It spawned two film versions, both of which were unrecognizable from the original. It matters little though as the version we know today, wasn't written until 1987. The original really only had three and a half singing characters, Reno, Billy, Hope, and Doctor Moon with one number. Thankfully, as well as adding some songs (all Cole Porter penned) the re-writers also gave some of the other songs to supporting characters. This allowed Lord Evelyn Oakleigh to take the spotlight in The Gypsy in Me, formerly performed by Hope, and gave rise to a new character. Erma took one of Reno's songs, Buddy Beware, and brought a whole bunch of comic relief to a show that didn't really need it.

The Production Company in Melbourne put on three lightweight musical productions every year. Each production runs for a week at the Victorian Arts Centre and generally has limited sets. Anything Goes had a staircase up either side of the stage and the band in between. The Musical Director John Foreman, famous for his bad jokes on Good Morning Australia, ensured that he and the band didn't get in the way, but rather participated in the fun.

The stars of the show were Chelsea Gibb as Reno, Kane Alexander as Billy and Marty Fields as Moonface Martin. Chelsea, who Christina had understudied for in Chicago, was wonderful. A local newspaper said she was too young for the role, but she didn't pretend to be any older than she was, and the character seemed to survive intact. She was in charge of most of the energetic dancing of the piece, which for such a small production, was a credit to choreographer Dana Jolly.

Marty Fields basically played himself as Moonface Martin, but who's going to complain about that. He has a comic sensibility that can't fail to please a live audience. All the other performers were good, another standout being Philip Gould's Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. As always Philip's performance seemed professional in a way that doesn't seem possible in a goofball character.

Then of course there was Christina. Last billed of the main characters, she didn't get a chance to have the stage to herself until towards the end of the piece. Up until then, her character had been delightfully over the top. Erma was determined that if she had to help out she was going to have fun, and god help any lucky sailor who got in her way.

While all of Christina Smith's costumes were excellent, Christina as Erma was placed in some wonderfully skimpy sailor girl outfits, that made me lament the fact I was so far back it made it hard to focus. When Christina performed Buddie Beware, focus became irrelevant as the body language in the dancing conveyed all the cheeky, evil, sex appeal that should come from a nymphet having a hard time scaring off a bunch of randy sailors.

As the house lights went on, and after the longest and most enjoyable curtain calls I have seen (before or since), the first thing I did was to open my programme and look up the name of the performer who played Erma. And I have not forgotten it since.

Disclaimer: The fact that I have not forgotten it since sounds impressive, but in fairness I devote all my memory to remembering the names of actors, so take it with a grain of salt.

Since seeing Anything Goes, I got my hands on the only cast recording I could find. It is the 1989 London Cast Recording with Kathryn Evans as Erma. It is the only performance of Buddie Beware I have heard since, and though I have heard it several times, I still retain a memory of Christina's rendition, which I believe to be superior. Now in fairness, I never SAW Ms Evans, and they say that you become attached to the first version you see of something, but I stand by my opinion. And when Christina sung "When I go to a show/I prefer the first row" and gestured to the first row... oh what I wouldn't have given to have been sitting in that first row that day.

Anything Goes
The Production Company
3rd-6th October 2001
State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre
Review of Thursday 4th October 2001
From Stalls U 8

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